More wisdom from the WOM gurus at Church of the Customer

Check out the latest post from Ben McConnell of Church of the Customer. Digitasians will remember a visit earlier this year from Ben's compadre Jackie Huba.

Entitled "your marketing budget is too big when," I love this post (and the comments it's provoked) because it debunks many of the "marketing must have's" that distract clients and agencies from their real work: giving consumers help and value.

My favorite: your organization writes more press releases than blog posts.

A close runner up: your CMO's definition of engagement is: "Turning on a prospect to a brand idea enhanced by the surrounding context." (This definition comes courtesy of The Association of National Advertisers (ANA), the American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA) and the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF).)

I also love this add from a comment: you decide you need a "community strategy" even though your brand is ignored or loathed by your customers. And: you hire people to improve your online reputation instead of fixing what's wrong with your company.

Why is this important to us? It's a gentle (if pointed) reminder that understanding and tapping into what consumers think and do should always be the marketer's first priority - not pointing the latest marketing technology at them or launching a cool shiny object just because we're bored. Also, don't expect marketing to solve a product or reputation problem. Finally, we must enable "citizen marketers" (as Ben & Jackie have coined them) to get involved with the brand and do some of the marketing for us.